In the prior art, it is known that in many instances brassieres, particularly in the larger sizes, tend to irritate the shoulders of the wearer due to the weight supported, inasmuch as a considerable portion of that weight is directed through the shoulder straps to a very narrow contact area of the body. The result is well known and includes discomfort to the wearer and the development of unsightly ridges and/or irritation to the skin.
The prior art discloses numerous attempts at solutions to this problem. For example, several prior art patents disclose removable pads to be attached to the shoulder, such as can be seen in Trent U.S. Pat. No. 2,501,749 and Melton U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,576. These pads are fabricated from various materials and generally are wider than the brassiere straps themselves so as to presumably distribute the weight better to the wearer's shoulders and eliminate some of the just mentioned problems.
Other patents, such as Rosenberg U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,025,859 and 4,100,924 show further attempts to eliminate the problem by simply widening the straps themselves in the shoulder engaging areas.
Perron U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,906 shows the use of filler strips while Pompa U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,838 discloses the utilization of sheepskin or lambskin pads disposed on the shoulder straps so as to present a sorer skin engaging surface.
Greenberg U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,400 shows a further attempt to solve this problem by the use of a foam laminate band attached to the shoulder strap.
While all of the prior art just described is presumably suitable for the purposes for which it is designed, it is believed that a still further improvement can be made by providing a floating type pad which can be removably attached to the shoulder straps whereby the ridges caused by the straps themselves can be eliminated and, therefore, the discomfort encountered by the wearers will be minimized.